Pasadena approves study for NFL use of Rose Bowl

PASADENA-The City Council voted 6-to-1 Monday to green-light an environmental study that supporters said will allow the Rose Bowl to vie as a temporary host for an NFL team should the opportunity arise.

The study could cost as much as $400,000, officials said.

Neither developer Ed Roski Jr. of Majestic Realty, which is proposing a stadium in Industry, nor Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is proposing Farmer's Field downtown, has a team in hand and neither has begun construction.

But if either proposal is successful, an interim facility, such as the Rose Bowl or the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, would likely be needed, officials said.

"Completion of an (Environmental Impact Report) allows us to compete ... but it also formalizes an opportunity for community input," said Councilman Victor Gordo, president of the Rose Bowl Operating Co.

"I think it's important to keep our options open and to have all the relevant information as it relates to impacts and potential mitigation measures."

City Manager Michael Beck said hosting an NFL team could generate "tens of millions of dollars" a year in direct and indirect revenue for cash-strapped Pasadena. City officials say it could also go a long way in making up a $20 million financing gap in the stadium's $160 million renovation.

The city would split the cost of the study with the Rose Bowl Operating Co., which still must approve a $200,000 transfer to the city's General Fund, officials said.

Councilman Terry Tornek cast the lone dissenting vote, noting that there has been no NFL pronouncement concerning having a team in the Los Angeles area in the near future.

"I think it's a highly speculative investment and an inappropriate one at this time," Tornek told his colleagues.

The report would likely examine impacts to air quality, land use, noise, recreational use, traffic and regional transportation in hosting an NFL team for up to five years, Beck said.

Councilwoman Jacque Robinson voted in favor of the proposal, arguing that the Rose Bowl is a city rather than a neighborhood asset.

"I think we owe it to ourselves and we have a fiscal responsibility to contend for those revenues that may be derived from an NFL team if and when it comes to the City Council," she said.

Pasadena resident Floyd Fulvin spoke out against the item, arguing that the city could use the money to avoid further layoffs rather than "on future events beyond the control of the City Council."

The city, which is expected to have a General Fund deficit of $4.1 million by the end of the fiscal year, has laid off 42 employees since 2010, Beck said. It has also let go another 15 limited-term employees, he said.

The City Council would need to certify the report and amend the city ordinance to increase the number of large events of 20,000 people or more allowed from 12 to up to 25 a year.

Lee Zanteson, president of the Linda Vista/Annandale Association, said that the city "is salivating over the idea of having the NFL here." But he said he fears the stadium is merely being used by the NFL so the league can make a better deal with the Coliseum.

Zanteson said he also hopes the city will have two or three public input sessions to define the scope of the study since so many areas would be affected.

"I think having the NFL in the Arroyo will be a disaster," Zanteson said. "The loss of recreational use is going to be large ... You park at the golf course for 20 events within four months ... and it will destroy the golf course."

Cherie Felix, who lives within the West Pasadena Residents' Association, said she felt the decision was being shoved down the residents' throats and cited concerns to public safety.

"It's a rowdy crowd. They're drinking," she said in a phone interview. "If some catastrophe occurs, natural or man-made, there's going to be pandemonium because the entrance and egress (in terms of surrounding streets) is so limited ... The neighborhood could be torn apart."

The City Council in 2005, as well as voters in a 2006 referendum, opposed a failed initiative that aimed to grant the NFL use of the Rose Bowl as a permanent home.

Councilman Chris Holden was absent from Monday night's meeting. Mayor Bill Bogaard was also absent but he supported the motion via teleconference.